Hidden Truth
by Felineyx
Summary: AU, all human. The Cullens all work for MI5, protecting the country. But what happens when they are asked to guard rich girl Isabella? J/A, Es/C, Em/R. Rating may go up for violence etc, probably not though. Really bad summary, story much better. Try me?
1. Chapter 1

**A.N. Ok, so here I am! I never, ever thought I'd be writing a Twilight fanfic, but there we are! Just a little something that came to me a couple of days ago-I've got a few chapters written, so my updates will probably be about once a week-I can only deal with one fic a day and I have three! **

**DISCLAIMER: Anything you recgonise isn't mine. Stupid Stephenie Meyer…**

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**EPOV**

I stalked through the endless corridors of HQ, parting the crowds of airheaded receptionists with merely my prescence. I could feel them staring after me, but didn't turn back. I was many things, but a fool wasn't one of them, and I knew exactly what it was that they wanted.

Hesitantly, I knocked on the door in front of me. I knew he'd be in there, it was practically his second home. I took a shaky breath-this was almost like going to your father for a telling off, and he was very much like a father to me.

"Come in," I heard him call, and taking a deep breath, I entered. "Ah, Edward. Good morning," he said, no inflection on his voice at all. I just wanted to know my fate-was that so hard? "Morning, Carlisle," I replied, deciding two could play at his game. The corner of his mouth lifted into the crinkly smile that made you instantly at home.

"Welcome back." he said innocently, his lively eyes providing a window into his soul as they smiled with his mouth. I felt a matching smile creep it's way up my face, right in front of a sigh of relief. I hated having to be away from my work; it made me feel empty. Work was just a strange kind of addiction to me.

Having an unexpected week of had certainly not done me any good-I'd been sat at home nervously twiddling my thumbs all week, wondering when and if I could work again, meanwhile trying to avoid the deafening silence that sounded right through my flat. I'd been unable to settle at anything. Granted, it was my own fault I'd ended up suspended. I had, yet again, allowed my temper to get me into trouble. Clearly, I had a severe problem with it, but I had been handling it, although beating the crap out of a wall wasn't everybody's idea of handling it.

I could totally see Carlisle's reasons for suspending me-I'd been in dire need of some emotional detatchment from my job. Not the best job for me, being a spook, but it was something I'd wanted to do for several years before I started, and I kind of clicked with it. It started when I became the school loner. When my parents died.

A car crash it was. A stupid, idiotic, drunk driver, uninsured driver smashed into our car and killed my parents. This was one of the many reasons behind my issues with my temper, although I'd never been the most even-tempered of people in the first place.

_**-Flashback-**_

_I scrambled into the car, excitement and nerves threatening to brim over onto my carefully composed, calm face. I was on my way to my first ever piano recital, Mum and Dad were both coming to watch me, it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day-not something you got often in Manchester. I'd been playing piano since I was five, but had really taken to it properly in the last year._

_We sped down the motorway, speeding a little because the traffic had been awful through the city centre. I heard a thump, saw the world spin briefly, and then blackness. Nothingness. _

_Death was in the air._

_**-End flashback-**_

I gasped my way back to the present, vaguely surprised to find that I was sitting down, Carlisle's arm gently around my shoulders, concern etched across the non-existent lines on his face.

"Are you sure you're ready?" he asked gently, his eyes again providing a window into his compassionate thoughts. I saw pity there-he knew what had gripped me. I nodded, not sure that my voice would be entirely under control, and stood, effectively dismissing myself.

"Well, if you're sure, go down to the office; Alice is expecting you," he told me, his tone that of a defeated man. Swiftly, I turned, walking smoothly from his office and down to the hub, the bit where everything happened.

When I arrived there, Alice was already there, tapping her tiny foot impatiently; her pale brow furrowed in concentration. Silently, I moved behind her and tapped on her shoulder. She jumped about a foot into the air, twisting agiley as she did.

"Edward! You're not meant to be here yet!" she shrieked, somewhere around bat frequency.

"I love to surprise you, Al. S'not something I get to do too often," I smiled back at her, my face playful. We exchanged a few more rounds of our usual easy banter, and then Rosalie entered the room. The entire atmosphere seemed to go cold, even though she was laughing with Jasper. As she saw me, her face instantly creased into a scowl, a snarl covering my own features.

The mutual dislike between Rosalie and I went back an awfully long way, and had certainly not mellowed over time. Basically, it all boiled down to her vanity and flawless beauty-things that were great for an agent, just really bad for her ego. She hated, on sight, any man that didn't instantly fall in love with her. I was one of those unfortunate men, not that I was terribly manly at the time. I was just a young, naïve new agent at the tender age of sixteen-she was the tenacious twenty-three year old. Go figure, then come tell me!

I was brought out of my thoughts by Jasper subtly clearing his throat. I grimaced by way of an apology, then turned, almost expectantly to face Alice, the section deputy. I'd momentarily forgotten that she actually ranked a step below me. I could see the tight ship she'd kept in my absence, and was grateful. While I hesitated, she looked at me with amusement dancing in her eyes, and I grimaced again as I remembered.

I turned to face a rapidly bipping computer screen that was screaming a security alert at me. Without pausing for breath, I gave my instructions as I read it. A smile stuck itself to my face. It was nice to be back.

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**A.N. So there you go-chapter one. Please, please review-next update will probably be next Friday!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N. Wow. So many alerts! There were what…nine, I think! I've never been this popular before. It actually stunned me into silence when I saw quite how much of my inbox had been filled by these alerts. Thank you all sooooo much!**

**Cydney Elayne Cullen: Erm…thanks!**

**x-flashwithwave-x: Thank you! And Jane probably won't make an appearance, though I'll try my hardest!**

**ShiShix: Thanks! And you don't have to…**

**Diana Holland: Thank you!**

**XxBlue-Eyed-BellaxX: I'm just rolling with the ideas as they come. Thanks for pointing it out though! Thanks!**

**DISCLAIMER: Anything you recognise is not mine (sadly). Damn Stephenie Meyer!**

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**APOV**

I don't think I've ever seen anyone as keen to be at work as Edward was. He always was married to his job, very like Carlisle. They had far more in common than either gave themselves credit for. Unconsciously, he almost danced into the room, a rare, true smile lighting up his face. It was nice to see a smile on him; he spent so much of his life lost in the past.

He moved across the room with more grace and elegance than most men-he'd make someone a really lovely boyfriend one day. Not me, though-I'm already tied to my gorgeous Jasper, and have been for a long time now. People often joke about us being husband and wife-we debated it a couple of months ago, but decided that with us both being in this job and at risk of dying at any given moment, it was perhaps best not to.

Ours was a quiet kind of love-we both knew instantly when it happened, but it wasn't the kind of thing to announce itself loudly to world, singing and dancing. The very first time I met him, I knew that he was the one for me. We met in a café while I was on holiday in Philadelphia, he walked in and we just kind of clicked. I'd been waiting for him my entire life, and he'd kept me waiting a long time-I told him so myself, in as many words.

Edward coming back came as no real surprise to me; I'd always kind of known that he'd be ok out of this. I'd seen it coming, a kind of precognition, you could say, brief visions or flashes of the future. They weren't often terribly accurate, because the future was such a subjective thing, changing at a second's notice because of a new decision showing it's effects.

My people reading skills were second only to Edward's-he could sometimes be mistaken as a mind reader or something. All it was was a superb instinct for feelings and relationships, and reading the emotions that flitted across a person's face. People often called us siblings, purely because we both seemed to be above the ordinary in that respect. It could have been true, he was like my over-protective big brother for me. It was something I'd always wanted, a brother, and in Edward I got one.

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I was pulled from my convoluted trails of thought by a cool finger poking my shoulder lightly. Edward. I hadn't heard him creeping up behind me, and it startled me. He fell about laughing. Gee, thanks Edward. Glad to be of amusement.

We exchanged our usual playful banter, until Rosalie appeared, sporting the custom scowl she saved especially for him. Everything was back to normal-happy days, and all that jazz.

I was distracted just a second later though, as Jasper walked through the door. My face crinkled into a huge smile as I leaned in to give him a hug. He was so unlike Rosalie that it was unreal, and yet they were twins! Definitely a case of twinned in looks but not in nature.

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Edward cleared his throat quickly, breaking up the embraces that were going on around the room. He was resuming his position of section leader, something which I was eternally grateful. It was such a bloody hard job, and I'd only been doing it for a week! Apparently there was some kind of security alert going on. The second we heard who, we all calmed down. Charles Swan, Britain's richest gazillionaire. Well, billionaire, but he had that many billions that gazillion was probably a lot more accurate. We were being assigned to protect him-again.

I understood why we had to be so closely linked with him-he funded a whole load of government schemes and paid an absolute bloody fortune in council tax, practically an essential part of the economy. I just didn't see the point of people trying to kill him. Did they not know about his daughter Isabella? His millions would just pass directly onto her, and she was far less tupid than Charles. She would never put all her eggs in one basket, probably end up giving most of the money to charity. Wise girl, Bella.

"Ok, Jasper, Emmett, you'll be going down to support the bodyguards and what not that are already there. Rosalie, Alice, you're going to find out what the hell triggered it this time. Any means available." He said the last part with such an innocent smirk, but Rose and I knew what it meant. Flirt. And we could flirt for blinkin' England.

"I'll come with you this time, too. Keep you lot off the night-watch. It's about time I gave myself another healthy dose of field work, I spend too much time on bloody paperwork." Edward added, and I had to stop myself giving a small squeal of delight. He never came on these kinds of missions, he tended to stay and write up reports for the last big attempt at saving the country from itself and all that jazz.

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The five of us stuck together in a tight-knit group. Charles would only recognise four of us, so it was vital we all stayed together. He was, and rightly so, a very wary man, wouldn't give any information out to anyone he didn't know and trust. That was why Rose and I had to do a lot of the intelligence gathering around him, because he tended to miss flirts, get pulled in by their charm and momentarily lose his grip on his tongue.

Then again, most men did around Rose. Jasper, Edward and Carlisle didn't, but Emmett had once, a long time ago. They got married two years ago, which I didn't think was entirely the best plan, but it was, after all, their choice, and I respected her for making that absolutely clear. I also respected her for putting aside her differences with Edward and allowing him and Jasper to be Em's best men. They decided that as this wasn't a normal couple, it didn't have to be a very orthodox wedding either. And it was fantastic like that.

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**A.N. Don't worry, there's a load of better action going next chapter. I know what's going to happen! Hehe!**

**Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N. Wow. You guys are just…unbelievably oh-my-god awesome! I mean, seriously-It's on four favourite lists, fifteen story alerts (!) and it's in a C2? I'm having a surreal time with this. Really, I looked at my inbox on Monday and hyperventilated for about five minutes. It's…weird, but in a good way.**

**Diana Holland: I will! Thanks.**

**XxBlue-Eyed-BellaxX: Before I start, do you have any idea how hard your name is to spell for these ANs? Just kidding. And thanks!**

**SmileEdwardLuvsYhoo: Thanks-the action will come eventually, I just need to build it up a little.**

**ANGELOFTHEBLACKROSES: I'm sorry you were bored, though it was only a filler. And I'm sorry about Alice-I spend so much of my time substituting words into French or Italian that I lose my grip on the English language sometimes…*blush***

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**BPOV (Yesss!!!! I have wanted to do this for soo long!)**

Sometimes, I really hated being the daughter of a billionaire. I had no friends, no social life and absolutely no freedom. I constantly had to be on the alert for someone trying to kidnap me or mug me or something equally dangerous. In fact, I had to be alert for anything that might seem fun. My dad, Charlie, was just overly paranoid, and I had thought about sneaking out a couple of times, but always thought better of it.

And, just to make my day totally peachy, we were about to be swarmed by MI5. Yet again. I knew that they were only protecting us-and, in fairness, the entire country, but it was a little annoying to be shadowed by a bodyguard. Unless it was Alice or Rose. I was pretty friendly with them, as far as a girl with no friends could be, at least. Alice was just…insane, there's no other word to describe her. She just seemed to know what was going to happen right before it did, all the time. Precognition-that was the word As for Rose, she was insanely beautiful, and she knew it. She could be pretty bitchy, but she stood up for her friends, no matter what. They weren't exactly the most normal of friends, but they were all I had and were certainly better than none at all.

So, true to tradition, the usual four appeared. Alice, Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper. Or rather, the girls and the boyfriends. Emmett was huge, muscular, strong. If it wasn't for his likeable personality, I think I'd have been pretty scared of him. Jasper however was a completely different kettle of fish. He was very quiet, very intense with a way of knowing your feelings and calming you right down. I smiled as I noticed Alice and Rose's attire. They were dressed to flirt, as ever. I was amazed that Charlie never saw through it, but he didn't and maybe that was a good thing. Who knew? And frankly, who wanted to know?

Then I frowned as I saw the other person. A man who looked to be younger than the others, with messy copper coloured hair and the palest skin imaginable. He glanced up for a second and caught my eye. My breath stopped, and I think my heart did too. He had the most amazing green eyes, piercing and sharp, the kind of eyes that never missed a trick. After a fraction of a second, he glanced away again, nudging the others forward. Their movement was another thing that astounded me; they moved with such grace and speed that it was silent, impossible to detect unless you knew where they were.

I lost myself in the memory of him. Finally, I understood what people meant when they said 'love at first sight.' It was impossible _not _to fall in love with him, he was just so perfect, to look at if nothing else. And obviously he wasn't some kind of serial killer or anything, otherwise the other four would have had him by now, with ease. I shook myself away from those thoughts. I could not and would not get close to him. It was way too dangerous, both for him and for me. And for Charlie too-I would never do anything to put him in any more danger, despite the fact that his current situation was self-made. If he hadn't made his billions, we wouldn't have this problem. But then again, I wouldn't have seen _him. _

_----------_

The day passed in relative quiet, as far as it could when you had MI5 officers swooping all over the place. I didn't see the man with the bronze hair again, so I just figured he'd gone back to base. He could well be the elusive leader that Alice often mentioned, although she never went into any detail really, just said that he buried himself in paperwork.

But as twilight approached, I found myself looking out of my window. I watched the sunset from my full-length window. As I went to draw it, I looked down, and there he was. The bloke with the bronze hair. He was stood, back against the wall, alert. His head moved periodically as he kept lookout. I felt sorry for him, landing the night watch. Alice often muttered and complained whenever she got it, she always said that she struggled to warm up again.

As I thought this, she swept into my room, placing her cool hand on my shoulder. I jumped as I felt the contact, having not heard her approach.

"Who's that, Alice?" I asked quietly, pointing down at him.

"Edward." Alice replied simply. No explanation, just a casual response and a sparkling smile.

"New?" I asked, knowing full-well that he probably wasn't.

"No, actually. Been serving longer'n the rest of us." Still, she gave nothing away. I tutted in irritation.

"You'll meet him properly tomorrow," Rose added from behind me, and I jumped again. Her tone was that of forced politeness.

"Jeez, Rose! Must you sneak up on me like that?" I half-shouted, then cringed as I saw Edward's stance tense. His head turned slightly, and in the moonlight, I saw him properly. His features looked to have been carved from stone, and deep shadows under his eyes. By the direction of head, I was positive that it was me he had heard, and I gave a low whistle as I realised how good his hearing must be-my window was shut and locked, keeping out the cold.

I wondered at how he seemed to be unaffected by the cold. It was the middle of November, the middle of a cold snap and there was a real Arctic blast going, and yet he didn't even bother with a coat. And then I heard it start to rain. Edward never moved, didn't even bow his head to try to keep the rain out of his eyes. The rain hit him, staining dark patches on his light jumper. I shook my head. Damn these perfect people.

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**A.N. Now, review! Please?**


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N. Yeah…I'm sorry. I was performing in two concerts last week, but even so there's no excuse. And certainly not with all these story alerts! We're up 23 now! Seriously! But the review count really isn't matching it people. Some would be nice, please. A few more than the ones I'm replying to.**

**Shishi: Thanks.**

**Xx-Blue-Eyed-BellaxX: Well predicted! Very well predicted indeed! And I'm getting better at typing it now-no copy and paste this time!**

**Diana Holland: Thank you-it's always good to see someone's happy!**

**Twilight0394: I did! Glad you liked!**

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The girl intrigued me a great deal-normally I was very good at reading people, but she was abnormally difficult. Impossible, almost. Her face was so impassive, and even those eyes gave little away. Perhaps it was just her extraordinary beauty clouding my vision, but somehow, I thought not.

Her beauty was indescribable. Chocolate brown eyes that seemed to have no end, that actually had some kind of depth, far more so than your average brown eyes, which were positively clouded by comparison. A pale face framed by beautiful, long brown hair that looked to be secretly unruly. Just from her face, it was very clear that she was different from other rich girls. Different from girls like Tanya-spoiled princesses with no concept of pain or suffering, no idea what it was like to be within an inch of death.

Something which I had a pretty good grasp on, life and death. Something I knew more than I would have liked, something which was horribly unfair. It wasn't a bad piece of knowledge to have, just perhaps not in the way that I acquired it.

The crash. The very same crash that had killed my parents almost killed me. It caused some kind of defect in my heart, which then meant I ended up having three operations on it in a week or so. I spent weeks in hospital, never knowing if I would still be alive the next day. At the time, I was eleven, and I guess I grew up fast after that, because it was simply too much for me to deal with straight after losing my parents. It's the situation when you most need your parents, and to not have them didn't really help my cause.

After that, it held out for another three years-about what the doctors expected. My heart was never going to last me forever, but they'd hoped I had more time than that. At eleven, the donor list had been too long to contemplate a transplant, but at fourteen, the situation was a hundred times worse, so I jumped the queue. At the time, I had a girlfriend called Jodie. She was a little plastic, a bit fake, but her actual self away from her friends was pretty sweet. But when I fell ill, the plastic side well and truly came through and she ran a mile, saying that it was 'just too much for her to handle.' As if I didn't have it worse, involuntarily. Weirdly though, that gave me the inspiration to live, so I fought, fought and then fought some more. I point-blank refused to die alone.

And so I didn't. Perfectly healthy MI5 officer. But the downside is that, since Jodie, I'd never really had a friend, unless you count Alice, Emmett and Jasper; and I certainly didn't know what love was. So when I saw Isabella, I didn't know what I felt, just that it was new and scary and I wanted to run a mile.

I shook myself. This, of all the jobs in the world, was not the one to be wallowing in my own thoughts and feelings. I needed to be aware, making sure that the people I was protecting had a chance to think and feel tomorrow, and the day after and the day after that, until it was their rightful time to die. I glanced up, vaguely surprised that it was raining hard. Evidently had been so for some time, because my jumper had turned from a light grey to a near-black colour, so I was soaked. I'd be lucky to avoid a cold tomorrow.

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At some point, Rosalie appeared to relieve me. I was grateful for that-I wasn't the world's best sleeper and I'd barely slept through the week. Perhaps the night watch hadn't been the best idea I'd ever had, but I needed to pull my weight, at whatever cost to myself. She surprised me by sitting down next to me, grabbing me as I went to leave, pulling me back down.

"Wait…Edward," she said, something crossing her face as she struggled for the right word. "Why do we still hate each other? I was…"

"Stupid and vain, yes. Perfectly true." I interjected bitterly, stopping her before she could finish her sentence.

"Good way of wording it. Anyway, this is going to sound stupid, but can we start over? Please?" she asked, her eyes full of apology, her words begging with that soft transatlantic accent. ,I grimaced, before giving one curt nod to signal my agreement.

"Morning, Rose." I said, an air of finality in my voice that left no room for an answer.

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I groaned as I slowly came to. Sleeping in my Volvo was perhaps not one of my greatest ideas. I stretched, feeling my crumpled back straighten out. With a yawn, I glanced at the car clock, sinking back into the seat with a faint yelp as I saw the time. 10am. Four hours sleep-not enough, yet again.

I was fully woken up though, when I glanced out of the window to see Emmett's face pressed against it. If I hadn't been expected him to do something idiotic like that, I would probably have jumped a mile. If you didn't really know him, you'd say he had an absolutely excellent sense of humour, but to me it was simply very irritating.

I rolled my eyes as he began to laugh. Evidently, I hadn't hidden my slight surprise as well as I had thought, and it was enough for him to be leaning against the car almost crying. Leaning against my baby, my pride and joy. And yes, I do realise quite how sad that is, but I don't do women and I don't do pets, so a car is the next best thing. And it really is a lovely shade-silver and shiny and totally lovely.

Emmett was actually a really good friend to me, despite his moments of being highly annoying. He was very supportive of any and all decision I made, even those he didn't agree with, like not going near women. So I didn't want commitment when my heart wasn't the strongest. Big deal. But we'd had a lot of good times together, outside of work.

Jasper was very different again. He was quiet and calm, and somehow he had a way of manipulating your emotions when he was in the same room. You felt exactly as he did, which was wonderful when he was in a good mood, but if he was in a foul temper which wasn't often, not so great.

I shook myself back to the present again. What was it with me and my daydreaming lately? I shuddered. I had a job to do, and I needed to be busy doing it already instead of kicking back in my car slacking. That was something I could really not afford to do after being forced to take a week's unwanted holiday so that Carlisle could re-evaluate my position. Or so was his excuse.

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	5. Chapter 5

**A.N. This took so much longer than I'd originally hoped. I'm so, so sorry to anyone who's still reading. If you are, thanks for putting up with the wait. Still, I now actually know what I'm going to do with my plotline, so it's all good in that respect. Anyway, here you go with chapter five!**

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**EPOV**

A day or so passed meaninglessly. Nothing happened. Well, unless you count Emmett and Rosalie having a huge row about whether she heard someone in the bushes or not. Honestly, they were enough to drive anyone crazy! They were just that kind of couple - you could not see them for ages and ages and then as soon as you did they were immediately annoying. Until of course, they made up from whichever argument they were having now. Then they were just downright gross. It wasn't that I minded their relationship, more that I had a problem with them having their tongues down each others' throats when we had an important job to do.

Still, because Rosalie kind of thought she vaguely might have heard something, we were all cooped up indoors, keeping Isabella and Charles and the same room as us. Alice, Emmett and Jasper each blocked a window, while Rosalie kept a studious glare fixed on the corridor as she leaned on the door frame. I didn't miss the way Alice and Jasper took neighbouring windows. They made a sweet couple, in my opinion. Totally in love, but not in your face. Much nicer to be around, and they completed each other.

So that left me to watch over Isabella and Charles. Charles was fast asleep, but Isabella was wide awake, staring into space. So that left me free to watch her to my heart's content. I wondered what she was staring at, for having followed her eyeline I could see nothing, and there was no flicker in her face to give anything away. I'd seen some poker faces in my times, but this one beat them all.

"E-Edward?" Isabella whispered. Her voice sounded choked, as though she was afraid.

"Yes?" I replied softly, trying not to wake Charles.

"Will we all be ok?" she asked. The most difficult question to answer in the book. On one hand, you could tell the truth and say that you didn't know and possibly cause panic, give yourselves away and then all die anyway. Or you could lie and say yes, then risk complacency. It was a difficult choice to make.

"Probably," I said, pulling in a deep breath as I did so.

"Good." her voice sounded relieved, as you would generally be if told that you'd be fine. She curled into Charles after that, quickly falling asleep. Her face rearranged itself into calm, peaceful smoothness, all of the worry and fear from the last couple of days just washing away as easily as taking off a mask.

I began to hum softly, a new composition. Playing the piano was one of my lesser known hobbies, something I didn't get to do often, for obvious reasons. Having a responsible job like this meant that unsociable hours were a given fact and if you couldn't put up with turning into the most unsociable creature on the face of the earth then it was definitely the wrong job for you. That's how it had been sold to me originally, and the truth of that had kind of been what inspired me to go on and do as well as I could, just for the people of my country. Which has to be one of the cheesiest lines going, surely?

This new composition was soft and sweet, very different from the kind of things I normally played. This had absolute thoughts and feelings behind it, indecision and not quite knowing what was going on. My normal pieces, though genuine, had no real depth to them. Esme always disagreed with this viewpoint; she was most insistent that I had a huge talent for music. I was considerably less convinced.

"Edward…" came Isabella's voice, and I was shocked out of my thoughts for a moment. I glanced over, but she was fast asleep. I shook my head, irritated. I was definitely hearing things.

"Love you, Edward," she said, and this time I saw her lips move. I felt my cheeks heat up a little. She was dreaming about me - or some other Edward, though I doubted the latter. How many other Edwards did you see walking down the street below the age of sixty-five? Certainly very few under thirty. Alice turned to me briefly, her eyes shining. I grimaced, able to imagine the thoughts that would be running through her head right now.

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**A.N. I know it's a little shorter than usual but at least it's here!**

**Now, I know I'm being slightly cheeky, but is there any chance of a review?**


	6. Chapter 6

**A.N. You are all a-may-zing! My inbox was almost screaming at me to hurry up and read all these emails that contained reviews, story alerts, favourites etc. I think I had a good thirty in one day! So, as a kind of thank you, I'm posting again! Plus, I gave myself a nice easy job with the last chapter anyway!**

**ny88: Thank you! I intend to.**

**iluvtwilight93: Ooh, you'll just have to wait and see! Haha, you'll not have a long wait. Glad you like it!**

**PrincessRosella: Aww, thank you! I don't actually think I'm so good, but…yeah, thanks!**

**bellestorms: I'm glad you're enjoying it! I'm hoping to finish this without hitting any more sticky patches, which usually means quick updates!**

**NicNacCola: Glad you're liking it!**

**Quigley-MacDazzle: I have no idea why I randomly came up with this, I just kinda…did. My imagination goes crazy from time to time! Here's your continuation!**

**ema666: Glad you liked it so much! It took me forever to think of, but I think it came off ok despite the fact that I'm not exactly wonderful at writing sweet fluffy things (damn, I'm screwed…)**

**So, I'll get everything out of the way now. Hope you enjoy the chapter, please remember to leave me a review at the end (my inbox is a glutton for punishment) and I'll see you all next chapter! I'm sorry this one's so short - I struggled actually, changed my mind about the outcome halfway through!  
**

**Oh, and I think we're getting pretty near the end now. Maybe three, four chapters at a push? I'm not sure, just not many! But there will definitely be a sequel.**

**Oh, (for gods' sake this is monstrous) see if you can spot the song reference. It's Bella's line, a little further down the page. Probably one for people a little older than me.**

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**BPOV**

I groaned softly as I came to, feeling as though I'd been asleep for a week. I glanced around, disorientated for a moment. I wasn't in my usual bedroom, and I could hear Charlie's soft snores from beside me. There were four dark figures dotted around the room, standing by the windows and door. And one more, sat cross legged directly next to me. I shifted backwards, slightly taken aback. Was this some kind of trick? Was I trapped? Where were Emmett and the others?

"Sssh," the figure nearest to me murmured. "It's only us, Isabella. You're perfectly safe. Just make sure you keep your voice down." I was reassured slightly, though I did not know the voice well. Then the answer came to me, along with memories of the previous night. It was Edward. I sagged slightly in relief.

"Sorry," I whispered, barely able to hear my own voice.

"Did you know that you talk in your sleep?" Edward asked, amusement injected into his quiet whisper.

"Yes," I replied, rolling my eyes while my cheeks flushed bright red. "What did I say _this_ time?"

"Erm…nothing of consequence," Edward replied delicately. I merely raised my eyebrows at him. "Are you sure you want to know?" Gods he changed tack quickly. It was enough to give you whiplash!

"Yes," I growled.

"Ah…I may have come up. More than once." I put my head in my hands in embarrassment.

"Whatever I said, I didn't mean it," I replied, humming as the sentence reminded me of the line of a song.

"I'm upset," he replied, feigning sadness.

"Will you spit it out already?" I asked, but he wasn't listening. He was watching the door where Rosalie dozed. Who knew what he could see there.

----

**EPOV**

I'd seen shadows moving outside the door as I'd tried to avoid Isabella's questions. Only once they moved before nothing, and if I was in any other profession I would have put it down to a trick of the light. But I wasn't and I needed to be vigilant. I had to act, to work out what it was that was going on.

"Stay there," I whispered as I quietly as I could muster, shooting Isabella a slight smile as I stood. I moved slowly and silently over the floor towards where Rosalie dozed. Alice looked at me questioningly, and I could see the question written in her face through the narrow beams of moonlight. I signalled for her to watch Bella carefully, make sure she didn't move anywhere that might give our position away.

I rolled my eyes at Rosalie's sleeping form as I passed her, still moving at the same careful pace. I was surprised that she didn't stir as I passed her, but then I saw the glass of water by her feet. It was slightly cloudy - a sure sign that there was something in there that shouldn't have been. I paused to check her breathing and heartbeat, and once I was satisfied that they were normal, I set off again.

As I moved down the corridor, I could see nothing of any consequence. I checked behind everything that could be used for a hiding place - even checked inside the large plant pot. I spun around slowly as I walked, determined not to be snuck up on from behind. If this was who I suspected it was - and it had all the trademarks - then I needed to be vigilant. There would most likely be two at once to attack me, leaving one to go directly for Bella, hold her up and then wait for the boys to finish everyone else off. I was determined that that was not going to happen.

But as I continued down the corridor, I became less convinced that it had been what I thought it was. And as I heard a scream, I realised how big a trap I'd just walked into.


	7. Chapter 7

**A.N. Sorry 'bout the cliffy, but it was where I needed to leave the chapter. I would have posted this earlier on today, but I'm pretty much typing with one hand thanks to a combination of my dad and gym. In a nutshell, I've fallen on the same shoulder twice within the last three weeks, and then I've carried two hefty paper bags on it this morning because he didn't even wake up until I'd finished despite being designated bag carrier. So my shoulder is yay painful. But never mind, less of my problems, more of Edward's!**

**flashwithwave: Haha. Your review really made me laugh, but don't worry. I'd never leave such a huge cliffy. **

**Linds. Loves .Vamps: Good! I'm pleased you like it! Here's your update.**

**SharkGurl: Cliffy indeed. Haha, I'm evil.**

**nation108: Erm…no, that's definitely not what happened. My Edward is not evil *glomps***

**Quigley-MacDazzle: Haha. Your review made me giggle as well. Still, it's lovely to have readers who are so…enthusiastic about the plot.**

**ny88: Indeed he did walk into a trap. Here's more for ya!**

**I didn't think anyone would see my song reference in the last chapter. Read through Bella's part again, and as you get to the line where Bella starts humming, hum the chorus to Back for Good. **

**Sorry about some of the language, and the fact that Carlisle goes a little (well a lot) OOC. Kinda needed to. Oh, and the medical-y bits are entirely made up. I know it's a whole loada crap, but it fitted.**

**Gah. Another monster. :(**

**----**

**EPOV**

The second I heard that scream, I wheeled around and headed back towards the bedroom as quickly as I could go, caring little for how much noise I made and how much I gave away. I had to get back, see who had screamed and what was wrong. If Isabella had been hurt, or Alice, or Rosalie, I would never forgive myself. Leaving them on a hunch…I'd been trained better than this! I was better than this! First rule or hiding away was to never leave your group, no matter how many of you there were. And what had I done? Only gone and broken that! Carlisle, and further up than him, Aro, would have a field day!

As I approached the door, I slowed, trying to hide myself away from them. I shook my head. I had to go in there - there was some serious fighting going on in there. Standing in the doorway, I could see Emmett and Jasper taking on a tall, dark man together, with Alice and Rosalie taking on a ginger female. I snarled, recognising the faces of the two - then growled, realising there had to be a third. The two being fought were Laurent and Victoria, so where was James?

I scanned the room quickly, seeing Charles sprawled in one corner but still breathing. My fear growing now, I glanced into the darkest corner of the room. That was where I saw a streak of moonlight reflecting off James' blonde hair. I launched myself over there, my feet barely touching the floor. I pulled him back by his long hair and saw what I was looking for. Isabella lay beneath him, her features contorted in pain. She was just barely conscious. I heard Emmett and Jasper cheer their victory over Laurent, just before Alice and Rosalie followed suit. I turned, sending James flying with a strong fist to his head. He wasn't down for long, certainly not as long as I would have hoped. He was at my throat in an instant, pinning me up against the wall with superhuman strength. Emmett, spotting my predicament, pulled backwards as I pushed and James was forced let go.

I dropped to my knees beside Isabella. There was so much pain on her face! I glanced down her body, checking for obvious injuries. Her leg was pointing at disturbing angles - clearly broken - and her face was bruised. There was a frighteningly large pool of blood around her head.

"C'mon Isabella, don't you dare give up on me now!" I growled as I saw her eyes begin to drift shut.

"E-Edward?"

"Yes. Now stay awake, d'you hear me? Stay the hell awake!" I was perhaps being a little more forceful than was entirely necessary, but I certainly got my point across.

"Ah! My hand!" her voice rose into a high pitched scream. "It burns! Please…" she needed to say no more. I picked up her hand, examining it properly instead of just passing it off as a scratch. I stared at it, barely able to believe what I was seeing. He bit her. Those were bite marks on her hand - and he'd pierced the skin.

"Sick, sadistic bastard," I snarled.

"I think…ow!" she screamed again, and I looked closer at the bite marks. There was already an infection beginning the show, and they only came up that quickly from…

"Poison, damnit!" I looked around. I wasn't qualified for this. How did I get it out of her? "Emmett, call Carlisle!" I ordered. Carlisle was a trained doctor, he'd know what to do.

I heard the faint murmur of Emmett talking quickly into his phone, moving robotically as Emmett placed the phone into my hand.

"Okay, Edward. What's gone on here?"

"James bit Isabella, some kind of poison in the wound - it's infected already and it can't have been more than five minutes ago."

"Shit. Edward, you're going to have to take that crap out of her system."

"How? I'm not in the middle of a fucking hospital or something!"

"Have you got a syringe and some antibiotics?"

"Syringe yes, antibiotics no,"

"Paracetemol?"

"Yup,"

"Dissolve a tablet into water, inject a syringe full into the wound." I grunted my assent, quickly doing as instructed.

Isabella's cries faded quickly, and Carlisle breathed a sigh of relief down the phone. "Get her straight into a hospital. She should be out of the woods for now, but not for long." I hung up, quickly redialling for an ambulance.

I sat and watched her peaceful face as we waited for an ambulance to arrive and realised what I'd been trying to avoid. I loved her too.

------------

**A.N. Not one of my better efforts, I know. **


	8. Chapter 8

I watched as she lay there in that hospital sheet, her face calm and peaceful with no trace of the agony that had been so present just a few hours ago. But she wasn't out of the woods yet, according to the doctors, so I refused point-blank to leave her side. I had to know she'd pull through - without that, I'd be nothing, although that wasn't what I told everybody else. All they knew was that I wanted to make sure she survived, make sure I'd done my job properly. Which, in fairness, was the truth, just not the whole truth.

Alice was the only one that I hadn't fooled with my words. She'd looked at me, then dragged me to one side to have a conversation with me.

"Edward…all this hidden truth is doing you no good. There's only Emmett and Rosalie who haven't seen through you yet." her voice was soft, but there was an undertone to it that I couldn't quite fathom.

"I'm doing the right thing here Alice. You of all people should know that."

"Edward, this will destroy you, in the end. I can see that. Quit lying to yourself and deal with reality," Alice replied, her voice sharp, her face knowing. "I know it's hard, but you can't help who you fall for."

I rolled my eyes and moved away, back to my seat by Isabella's bed. As I heard voices down the corridor, I closed my eyes, feigning sleep. Whoever it was deserved to spend some time with Isabella in peace, without me appearing to listen in on their conversation.

"Oh, Bell, I'm sorry," said a soft, female voice. "You should've been with Phil and I over in Jacksonville. We were going to call you today, settle everything…why did I leave it?" That had to be Isabella's mother, Renée. I'd heard about her briefly, but only ever in passing, and curiously, only ever from Charles. He spoke about Renée with such reverence and love that it was obvious he wished their marriage had not hit the dust.

"That boy still here? Charlie mentioned him. Said he never left. Kind of unnerving-Bell?" Her voice changed at the end of the sentence, as though she'd been distracted somehow.

"M-Mum?" Isabella's beautiful voice sounded tired and cracked, but it was there. She was going to be ok.

"Oh Bella sweetheart, I'm so glad. You had us all so worried about you!"

"Mum, you know what I'm like. It'd take a speeding truck to kill me," Isabella's voice sounded exasperated.

"Well a psychopath nearly had you," Renée replied sharply. "Anyway darling, I promised Phil I'd call him. I'll be back as soon as possible."

I listened for the door to click, gave it another five seconds and then sat upright. I wanted to see Isabella's face again, awake and aware. I had things I wanted to say to her.

"Bella?"

"E-Edward?" Her voice was surprised, as though she hadn't seen me there.

"D'you mind if I try something?" I asked hesitantly.

"Go ahead. Not as if I could stop you, is-" I cut her off effectively by placing a kiss on her lips. Sweet, tender and absolutely freaking amazing. I pulled back, anxiously, making sure she wasn't unhappy with the arrangement. Her face was shocked.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…" I tailed off, caught by surprise as she leaned forwards, pulling my head down to meet hers. Guess she was happy with the arrangement then.

----

**A.N. Wow, that's way short. Never mind though, it said what it needed to.**


	9. AN

**Wow…thanks. If you're reading this, then it means you had the patience to sit through eight chapters of pretty crappy story. But thanks. Bizarrely, this is my most popular fic EVER. We've even beaten Michael's Return, something which I really didn't expect. So, I have a lot of people to thank. Here goes!**

**All my (fifty-seven) story alerters:**

**BedwardXoXo, Better Late Than Never, BreakingDawn4ever, CBC1, Chatterbox1603, Degrassidreamer, EdwardnDTL4eva411, I'm a proud leach lover, Ihatedrivingslow, Jenny1990, Jessantha, JuJubilee, Linds. Loves. Vamps. , LittleOne1208, LuckyCharms19, MaddyShay, NatSatOnTheMat, NicNacCola, PrincessRosella, Quigley-MacDazzle, Shadowfox2107, ShiShix, Skepo, SmileEdwardLuvsYhoo, Sonneuntergang, Tif1, Tigerlily91, Twilight-fan-14, Xx-Twilight-lover-xX, XxBlue-Eyed-BellaxX, XxShellxX, Yecats86, Zynthia, addictedtoOTH, all-things-nice, bellestormes, bubblescullen93, cinnamon988, deedee157, dgrace, disfunctioned movements, dreamer786, Edward-addictxoxo, ema666, hayleygirl, hayleyhoo, i heart jasper cullen, jessmr, magicalhannah7, miltonic, nahe77, ny88, swimluver, thelovelymara, tiggerlover1971, twilightaddiction17, x-flashwithwave-x.**

**Thank you very much to everyone who reviewed. It was really appreciated. Thanks to the person who added this to a C2, somewhere I never thought this would be. Thank you to everyone who put this on their favourites. Thanks to my author alerters, and favourite author folks. Just…thanks, I guess.**

**I don't own anything recognisable.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Ciao for now…**

**Felineyx. **


	10. Sequel Notice

**The sequel to this is now up. It's called Truth Will Out.**

**Please take a look**

**Fee x**


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